Charlie Byrd was first introduced to Brazilian music in the late 1950’s by radio host Felix Grant. In 1961 Byrd participated on a diplomatic tour of South America for the United States State Department,On his retirn to the States, Byrd was working with Stan Getz, whom he introduced to bossa nova recordings by João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim that he had acquired on his trip. The result of their shared enthusiasm was 1962’s Jazz Samba LP.Byrd remained a devoted champion of Brazilian music for the rest of his career. The tracks on this LP of Jobim compositions were recorded at various sessions between 1982 and 1999.

In 1977 and 1979 Tom Jobim recorded two LPs with the singer Miúcha (Heloísa Maria Buarque de Hollanda- at one time Mrs Joao Gilberto).This 1989 RCA release compiles a number of tracks from these two records.

If the disposition of the people that I have met from the Philippines is anything to go by it must be a wonderful country.We know the Philippines has produced probably the greatest boxer of the modern era in Manny Pacquiao and possibly the greatest billiards player ever in Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes- The Magician.But Bossa Nova?Here’s lovely Pinay singer, Sitti.Maybe not pure Bossa, she does lots of pop covers, but nice and fresh and not the worst way to include a Philippines artiste in your record collection…Her work is readily available- so just as a taster I’ve put together 10 songs- 9 well known Bossa Tunes and a song from Bacharach and David.

For this 1974 LP Jobim got together with the immensely popular Elis Regina (1945 – 1982).Known affectionately as furacão (hurricane) or pimentinha (little pepper), Elis sold over 80 million albums. Her premature death sent the whole of Brazil into mourning, and a memorial event at São Paulo’s Estádio do Morumbi attracted 100,000 people.This LP is widely considered to be one of the greatest Brazilian records, and in 2001, Águas de Março was named as the all-time best Brazilian song in a poll of more than 200 journalists, musicians and other artists conducted by leading newspaper, Folha de São Paulo.Elis openly disliked Tom Jobim , referring to him as a bore,dim-witted, and an old fogey whilst they were working on the LP . However the combination did revive her career, and if you view the video of them performing together you would never guess!Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/327921533/Elis___Tom.rar

Generally speaking, the LP’s of Françoise Hardy were untitled. Her name would appear on the sleeve, no number or anything else. So she has released at least ten LP’s called simply Françoise Hardy.For the sake of convenience this 1968 release is known as Comment te dire adieu?. It is largely comprised of cover versions and adaptations, and contains songs by Jack Gold, Phil Ochs, Leonard Cohen, Georges Brassens, Serge Gainsbourg and Antonio Carlos Jobim as well as interpretations of a poem by Loius Aragon and Ricky Nelson’s Lonesome Town. M. Gainsbourg was also responsible for the very clever French adaptation of Goland & Gold’s It Hurts to Say Goodbye (Comment te dire adieu?).Link:http://rapidshare.com/files/290879618/Fran__oise_Hardy_Comment_Te_Dire_Adieu.rar

…the paradigm of the young Carioca: a golden teenage girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of light and grace, the sight of whom is also sad, in that she carries with her, on her route to the sea, the feeling of youth that fades, of the beauty that is not ours alone — it is a gift of life in its beautiful and melancholic constant ebb and flow.- Vinicius de Moraes Ask people to name one Bossa Nova song and the chances are that it will be A Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema), composed in 1962 by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes.First recorded by Pery Ribeiro (1962) the song was made internationally famous by Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto and Stan Getz ( featured on the Getz/Gilberto LP of 1964, Garota won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965). It has since been covered by a vast number of artists.Despite the fact that the song, originally titled Menina que Passa (The Girl Who Passes By) was composed for a musical comedy titled Dirigível , the composers happily played along with the popular myth that it was inspired by Moraes and Jobim watching local girl Helô Pinto walk past the Veloso bar in Ipanema. They later went so far as to agree that they had actually written the song about Helô.Consequently Helô Pinheiro (as she now is) is The Girl From Ipanema. This worked in her favour in 2001 when the families of Moraes and Jobim sued her over her use of the name for her business venture, a chain of boutiques in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro . She won the case.

Born in 1943, Helô appeared in Brazilian Playboy in 1987 and once again in 2003, showing that at age 60 she still had what it took to turn the heads of any budding composers who might be sitting at Veloso’s bar…